Theater-chair



0. F. WASMANSDORFF.

THEATER CHAIR.

APPLICATION FILED JULY 16,1920.

1,363,940. Patented Dec. 28,1920.

2 SHEETS-SHEET l- INVENTOI? WITNE88E8 0. F fifisman adorff,

c f 87 Q w4 ATTORNEYS 0. F. WASMANSDORFF.

THEATER CHMR. APPLICATION F lLED JULY 16,1920.

1,3 3,940, Patented Dec. 28,1920.

2 SHEETS-SHEET Z- WITNESSES INVENTOR A TTORNE Y8 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

THEATER-CHAIR.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Dec. 28, 1920.

Application filed July 16, 1920. Serial No. 396,632.

To all whom it may concern Be it known that I, Orro FRANCIS Was- MANSDORFF, a citizen of the United States, and a resident of Lewistown, in the county of Fergus and State of Montana, have in- ,vented new and useful Improvements in Theater-Chairs, of which the following is a specification.

My invention is an improvement in theater chairs, and has for its object to provide mechanism in connection with chairs of the character specified especially adapted for use in motion picture theaters, to prevent preemption of the end seats, leaving the interior seats unoccupied, or constraining later comers to squeeze past patrons already seated, wherein each seat is locked in inoperative position by the pre ceding seat, and is released by the moving of the said preceding seat into operative position.

In the drawings:

Figure 1 is a floor plan of anauditorium showing the seating arrangement:

Fig. 2 is a front view of a portion of the main standard of a pair of adjacent chairs or seats;

Fig. 3 is an end view looking at one end;

Fig. 4 is a similar view looking at the opposite end;

Fig. 5 is a perspective view of the bolt;

Figs. 6, 7 and 8 are sections on the lines 66, 7-7 and 8-8, respectively, of Fig. 2;

Fig. 9 is a perspective view of the latch.

As is known, loss'to the proprietor and inconvenience to the patrons results from the occupying of end seats of seat sections in motion picture theaters before the center seats of the section are filled, making it diflicult for the ushers to discover unoccupied seats and inconveniencing late comers,

who have to squeese past those already seated.

In the present invention any row of seats in a section may be interlocked in such manner that one seat will be the controlling seat, and until this seat is in operative position the remaining seats are locked in inoperative position. As soon as the master seat is in operative position, that is, is occupied, the adjacent or succeeding seat is unlocked, and when this seat is occupied the succeeding seat is unlocked and so on in regular order.

As, for instance, in Fig. 1, three sections of seats are shown, namely, a central section 1 and lateral sections 2, providing four aisles 3, 4:, 5 and 6. Any seat in any row may be made the master seat, as, for instance, the seats indicated at 7, which are the end seats of the rows at the right of each row, may be made the master seats. hen a patron occupies any one of the seats 7, those coming later, who wish to occupy seats in section 1, will pass down aisle 5, which will be the entrance aisle for section 1, and they will enter the passages between the rows of seats from aisle 5. As for instance, each seat 7 occupied in section 1, the succeeding patrons would all enter from aisle 5. Each patron would necessarily seat himself or herself adjacent to a seat already filled, and since each seat is unlocked by the occupation of the preceding seat, it will be obvious that the patrons will be seated compactly in section 1 at the side adjacent aisle 4:. Aisle 4: will serve as an exit aisle for section 1, while the aisles 5 and 3 will be exit aisles for section 2, the aisles a and 6 serving as entrance aisles for these sections. If thought advisable, during the intermission the audience might be requested to movetoward the exit aisles, thus vacating the seats adjacent to the en-v trance aisles.

The interlocking device for permitting each seat to control the succeeding seat is inserted into the hinge of the chair, and it will be obvious that such mechanism might be arranged to control in either direction. As shown more especially in Figs. 2, 3 and 4;, the two chairs indicated at 8 and 9 are arranged on opposite sides of the main standard 10. Each seat has at each side (but one being shown) a hinge 11, and the hinges 11 and the standard have alining bearings for receiving a cylindrical shaft or pipe section 12, upon which the seats swing. This pipe or shaft. as shown, is of considerable length, extending beyond the hinges, and one end is encircled by a coil spring 13, which bears at one end against the seat and acts normally to force the seat upwardly into inoperative position.

Collars 14 and 15 are arranged on the shaft 12 between the hinges 11 and the standard 10, each collar being secured to the pipe 12 by means of a set screw 16 which is threaded through the collar into engagement with the pipe, as shown in Fig. 6.

.26 in the hinge 11 and into the ;collar 15, where it however,

leasing hinge 11 on the seat 8, by means of set screws 18, and this collar moves with the hinge when the seat is raised and lowered.

This collar 17 is a split ring, and one end is beveled, as shown at 18, to form a cam for a purpose to be presently described, and the ends of the collar are spaced apart from each other, as shown in Fig. 2.

.Abolt 19 is mounted to move longitudinally of the pipe 12, and this bolt has three locking lugs 20, 21 and-22 extending radially therefrom. The lug 20'is adapted to engage between the ends of the collar 17 and the said lug is adapted to be engaged by the cam surface 18 of the said collar, when the seat 8 is turned down, to move the bolt 19 longitudinally and to the left of Fig. 2, that is, away from the seat 9.

A coil spring 23 is arranged within the hollow shaft 12, between the bolt and a cross pin 24 in the shaft, and the spring acts to forcethe bolt toward the seat 9. When the parts are in the locking position shown in Fig. 2, the lug 20 of the bolt is engaged between the ends of the split ring or collar 17. The lug 21 of the bolt is engaged within a groove or keyway indicated at 25 in the bearing of the standard 10, and the lug 22 is engaged within a cut-out extending longitudinally of the bearing of the hinge 11 of the seat 9, and indicated at 26. The collar 15 is also a split ring, as clearly shown in Fig 2, the split of the ring registering with the cut-out 26 of the hinge 11 of the seat 9 when the seat 9 is in the elevated position shown. Thus when the seat 9 is elevated, as shown, and the seat 8 is lowered and the cam surface 10 engages the lug 20 and moves the bolt to the left of F 2, the lug 22 will move out from between the ends of the split split in the does not interfere with the downward swinging movement of the seat 9. At the same time the lug 21 moves farther to the left of Fig. 2, moving in the '8, the swinging down of seat 8 into operative position moves the bolt 19 to the left of Fig. 2, releasing the seat 9. A spring 13, holds the seat lifted until it is swung down by the next patron. When the seat 9 is swung down and occupied, the suc-- ceeding seat is released, and so on to the end of the row, each seat, when occupied, re-

the succeeding seat.

Mechanism is also provided for locking 1 ,ses,94o

the bolt 19 in inoperative position. The said mechanism comprises a latch plate 27. This latch is arranged on the outer face of the collar 17 adjacent to that end of the split remote from the incline or cam 18. A hairpin spring 28 encircles the pivotal mounting 29 of the latch, bearing at one end against a pin 30 on the latch and at the other against the end of the pipe or shaft 12. This latch 27 is normally in the position to extend across the split of the collar 17, but when the spring 28 is arranged as shown in Fig. 3 it will be obvious that when the lug'20 is moved far enough to the left of Fig. 2, the latch will be moved between the lug and the collar 17, thus locking the bolt in release position. By pinching the ends of the spring together, that end adjacent to the pin 30 may be released therefrom, so that the spring does not act to force the latch in behind the lug 20. It will be understood that the shaft 12 may be turned end 'to end, and the collars 1e, 15 and 17 reversed. When so arranged the seat 9 will be the master chair, and the seat 8 the controlled chair.

It will be obvious that the seats of each row might be controlled from the middle if desired, the twQ center seats being the master seats in each direction, or they may be controlled from either end.

I claim:

1. In theater chairs, the combination with a series of chairs arranged alongside each other, the supporting standards of the chairs between the same, a hinge connection between the chairs and the standards for permitting the seat of the chair to swing up into inoperative position or down into horizontal or operative position, said connection comprising hearings in the standard and on the seats of the chairs, a hollow shaft journaled in the bearings, stop collars connected to the sleeve between the adjacent bearings, a stop collar detachably connected with the sleeve outside the bearing of one seat,-a bolt moving longitudinally within the sleeve and having radial locking'lugs, the standard bearing having a keyw'ay for one of the lugs, the last named collar having a longitudinal slot for engagement by another lug of the bolt to prevent said bolt from turning when, said seat is raised into inoperative position, one face of the slot being inclined to form a cam for engaging the lug to move the bolt longitudinally when the seat is lowered, and

named seat, and manually controlled means for locking the bolt in release position.

2. In theater chairs, the combination with a series of chairs arranged alongslde each other, the supporting standards of the chairs between the same, a hinge connection between the chairs and the standards for permitting the seat of the chair to swing up into inoperative position or down into horizontal or operative position, said connection comprising bearings in the standard and on the seats of the chairs, a hollow shaft journaled in the bearings, stop collars connected to the shaft between the adjacent bearings, a stop collar detachably connected with the shaft outside the bearing of one seat, a bolt moving longitudinally within the shaft and having radial locking lugs, the standard bearing having a keyway for one of the lugs, the last named collar having a longitudinal slot for engagement by another lug of the bolt to prevent said bolt from turning when said seat is raised into inoperative position, one face of the slot being inclined to form a cam for engaging the lug to move the bolt longitudinally when the seat is lowered, and the other seat having a notch for receiving the other lug to lock said seat from being swung down until the bolt is moved longitudinally to release the lug therefrom, and a spring normally pressing the bolt toward the last named seat.

3. In combination, a series of standards, a seat pivoted between each pair of standards to swing upwardly into inoperative position or horizontally into operative position, and means controlled by the swinging upward of each seat for locking the succeeding seat in inoperative position, said means comprising a locking bolt movable longitudinally between each pair of adjacent seats, a spring normally pressing the bolt into locking position, the controlling seat and the bolt having interengaging means for moving said bolt into release position When said master or controlling seat is lowered into operative position, to release the succeeding seat.

4. In combination, a series of standards, a seat pivoted between each pair of standards to swing upwardly into inoperative position or horizontally into operative position, and means controlled by the swinging upward of each seat for locking the succeeding seat in inoperative posltion, and manually controlled means for holding said means in unlocking position.

5. In combination, a series of standards, a seat pivoted between each pair of standards to swing upwardly into inoperative position or horizontally into operative position, and means controlled by the swinging upward of each seat for locking the succeeding seat in inoperative position.

6. In combination with a row of chairs each having a seat mounted to swing upwardly into operative position or downwardly into inoperative position, of means controlled by the swinging upward of each seat for locking the succeeding seat in inoperative position and released by the down- Ward movement of the said first named seat, and manually controlled means for holding said first named means in unlocked position.

7 In combination with a row of chairs each having a seat mounted to swing upwardly into operative position or downwardly into inoperative position, of means controlled by the swinging upward of eac seat for locking the succeeding seat in inoperative position and released by the downward movement of the said first named seat.

8. In combination, a series of chairs having swinging seats, and means controlled by the swinging of the seat of each chair for locking and unlocking the seat of the succeeding chair.

OTTO FRANCIS WASMANSDORFF. 

